Material container with end discharge port

ABSTRACT

IN A HORIZONTALLY ELONGATED CONTAINER A CUP-SHAPED MEMBRANE HAS ITS MARGIN SECURED IN THE CENTRAL UPRIGHT PLANE OF THE CONTAINER ENABLING THE MEMBRANE TO MOVE FROM A POSITION LINING ONE END OF THE CONTAINER TO AN INSIDE OUT POSITION SUBSTANTIALLY LINING THE OPPOSITE END OF THE CONTAINER. A POROUS FLOOR TO WHICH FLUIDIZING AIR IS SUPPLIED EXTENDS FROM THE LOCATION AT WHICH THE CUP MARGIN IS ATTACHED TO THE CONTAINER TO ONE END OF THE CONTAINER AND THAT CONTAINER END HAS IN IT A DISCHARGE PORT LOCATED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CONTAINER.

United States Patent Inventor Hamilton Neil King Paton Bellevue, Wash.

Appl. No. 789,704

Filed Jan. 8, 1969 Patented June 28, 1971 Assignee Dynabulk CorporationBellevue, Wash.

MATERIAL CONTAINER WITH END DISCHARGE PORT 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 222/195, 222/386.5 Int. Cl 865g 3/12 Field of Search 222/195,386.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 272L006 10/1955 Knutsen222/195 2,956,839 10/1960 Hermanns v. ZZZ/386.5 3,l84 l l3 5/1965 Curtis222/3865 3,421,663 1/1969 Paton 222/386.Sx

Primary Examiner-Stanley l-l. Tollberg Altorney- Robert W. BeachABSTRACT: ln a horizontally elongated container a cupshaped membrane hasits margin secured in the central upright plane of the containerenabling the membrane to move from a position lining one end of thecontainer to an inside out position substantially lining the oppositeend of the container. A porous floor to which fluidizing air is suppliedextends from the location at which the cup margin is attached to thecontainer to one end of the container and that container end has in it adischarge port located at the bottom of the contamer.

MATERIAL CONTAINER WITII END DISCHARGE PORT The container of the presentinvention is quite similar to that shown in FIGS. 27 to 30 of mycopending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 611,366, filed Jan. 24, 1967,for Material Discharging Device For Containers, issued Jan. 14, I969, asU.S. Pat. No. 3,421,663.

A principal object of the present invention is to simplify and toexpedite the loading and unloading of granular material such as cementor flour.

More particularly, it is an object to expedite the unloading of suchmaterial by the combined action of exciting the material, such as byaerating or vibrating it, to loosen it and applying a positive pressureto the body of such material toward an outlet.

A further object is to enable the entire load of granular material, orat least nearly all of such load, to be removed from a horizontallyelongated container in a single continuous operation.

An incidental object is to provide a horizontally elongated containerwhich canbe used alternatively for transporting granular material andliquid.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a container in the form of an automotivetrailer, having parts broken away, and 1 FIG. 2 is a transverse sectionthrough such container taken on line 2-2 ofFIG. I.

While the tank I is shown as installed in a trailer, it will beunderstood that this type of tank structure could, if desired, be usedin a railway tank car or in a stationary installation. The structure isintended primarily for transporting granular material, such as cement orflour, when the membrane 3n is in the position shownin FIG. 1. Theattaching means 14 for the cup-shaped membrane 3n is locatedsubstantially centrally between the ends of the elongated tank, however,so that, when the membrane is turned inside out, it will besubstantially in lining relationship to the left end of the tank insteadof, as shown in FIG. I, being in lining relationship to the right endportion of the tank. The tank is intended to transport liquid when themembrane is in such reversed position lining the left end portion of thetank.

In the lower portion of the tank at the left of the membraneattachingmeans are fluidizing floor panels 207 of porous or foam polyethylene orporous wood particle board sheet, for example. At the end of thecontainer 100 in which such fluidizing floor panels are located is adischarge port 201 located adjacent to the bottom of the container.Because this outlet port is in the end wall, however, it cannot beobstructed by the membrane 3n overlying it, but will be covered onlywhen the membrane has been completely reversed. The upper portion of thetank adjacent to the membrane-attaching means 14 has a loading port 109through which granular material can be loaded. With the loading portthus disposed substantially in the center of the tank the loadingoperation can be accomplished most uniformly and the tank can be filledto its greatest capacity.

In the right end of the tank 100 at the side of the membrane 3n oppositethe discharge port 201' is a connection 108 which can be connected to asuction source or to a source of air under pressure. The purpose ofapplying suction to such connection or of supplying air under pressureto it is to subject the membrane 3n to a differential gas pressure onits opposite sides. When suction is applied to the port 108 and eitherthe loading port 109 or the discharge port 201' or both are open, airsupplied through such loading port or such discharge port or both willpress the membrane 3n into the position shown in FIG. 1 in which itlines the right end of the tank. Alternatively, if gas under pressure issupplied to the port I08 and again either the loading port 10? or thedischarge port 201' or both are open, the pressure on the right side ofthe membrane 3n will be greater than that on the left so that themembrane will be turned inside out from the position shown in FIG. I soas to line the left end portion ofthe container.

Exciting means in the container bottom to the left of the attachingmeans 14 will excite the granular material to loosen it so that it willflow more readily toward the discharge port 201' as the membrane 3n isinverted. Such exciting means may be a vibrating floor or a porousfluidizing floor. Connection 252 is provided in the bottom of the tankthrough which air under pressure can be supplied to the porousfluidizing panels 207 to be discharged slowly from them into granularmaterial above them for the purpose of fluidizing such granular materialto expedite its movement lengthwise of the container. The connection 252constitutes a discharge port for liquid from the right end of thecontainer.

The fluidizing floor panels 207 and movement of the membrance 3n cancooperate to unload discrete particle material from the tank in the mostexpeditious manner. The discharge port 201' would, of course, besuitably closed while granular material is being loaded into the tankand stored in it. The granular material is loaded into the centralportion of the tank through the open loading port 109, Prior toinitiation of the loading operation or during the initial stages of suchloading operation, suction is applied to the port 108 to move thecup-shaped membrane 3n into the position shown in FIG. 1, lining theright end portion of the tank. Such suction is maintained to hold themembrane in this wall-lining position until as much granular material aspossible has been loaded into the tank. The loading port 109 will thenbe closed.

To unload the tank 100 the discharge port 201' is opened and gas underpressure is applied simultaneously to the port 108 at the right end ofthe container and to the connection 252 supplying gas to the fluidizingfloor panels 207. The gas supplied to the connection 108 should be at apressure higher than that supplied to the connection 252. The gasemanating from the fluidizing floor panels 207 will fluidize granularmaterial to expedite its lateral flow for leveling mounded material.Consequently, fluidizing of granular material in the left end portion ofcontainer 100 will expedite the flow of such material throughthe'discharge port 201'.

At the same time, movement of the membrane 3n toward inverted positionfrom the position shown in FIG. I effected by the higher gas pressure onthe right side of the membrane caused by the supply of gas underpressure through the connection 108 will tend to prevent reduction indepth of the granular material because the horizontal extent of the loadwill be decreased by movement of the closed right end of membrane 3n tothe left. Maintenance of maximum depth of the body of granular materialin this fashion will also increase the rate of discharge of suchmaterial through the discharge port 201. Consequently, the fluidizingaction of the gas emanating from the fluidizing floor panels 207 and thecontinued pressure of the membrane 3n horizontally on the bodyofgranular material will cooperate to move such material continuouslyand expeditiously to the left end of the tank and out through thedischarge port 201'.

By locating the discharge port 201' in the end of the container, noportion of the membrane 3n can overlie it to obstruct it. Moreover,because the closed end of the membrane 3n is always moving toward thedischarge port 201, it is never necessary for the granular material toflow in a direction at all counter to the direction of movement of theinverting membrane during an unloading operation. Also, since thefluidizing floor panels always tend to level the fluidized granularmaterial, such material will flow along the panels toward the dischargeport 201' instead of at any time flowing to the right opposite to thedirection in which the inverting membrane is moving so as to becometrapped by any portion of the membrane. Consequently, all of thegranular material in the container will be unloaded during a singleinverting operation of the membrane 3n in the manner described.

Where a container of the type described is used for transportationpurposes and granular material has been unloaded from the tank in themanner described, such tank can be used for transporting liquid on areturn trip with the membrane remaining in its position lining the leftend portion of the tank, which is assumes at completion of the operationof unloading the granular material. Liquid can be loaded into the tankthrough the port 108 at which time the discharge port 252' will beclosed. At the end of the trip such liquid can be drained from the tankthrough the discharge port 252'. Unloading of the liquid can beexpedited by applying a differential pressure to the membrane 3n inwhich the higher pressure is at the side of the membrane at the left ofFIG. I. For producing such differential pressure, suction can be appliedto the port 108 and the discharge port 201' can be opened at least tosome extent. When the membrane again has been reversed completely to theposition lining the right end of the tank 100, as shown in FIG. 1, theliquid will have been discharged completely through the discharge port252 and the membrane will be in the position for the container againbeing filled with granular material through the loading port 109.

lclaim:

1. A container for granular material comprising a horizontally elongatedbody, a flexible cup-shaped membrane adapted to be disposed incontainer-lining relationship with an end wall of said body and withportions of the top, bottom and sidewalls of said body and having an endwall in upright position when in such container-lining relationship andtop and bottom walls extending from said membrane end wall in generallyhorizontal position when in such container-lining relationship,attaching means disposed substantially centrally between the oppositeends of said body and securing the rim of said membrane to the walls ofsaid body substantially in an upright plane, and discharge meansincluding a discharge port located in the lower portion of one body endwall, exciting means in the lower portion of said body between saiddischarge port and said attaching means operable to loosen granularmaterial in the body to facilitate its movement toward said dischargeport, and means for applying differential fluid pressure to saidmembrane for moving its end wall away from lining relationship to acontainer end wall and toward said discharge port for pressing granularmaterial from the interior of said membrane toward said discharge portwhile it is being loosened by said exciting means.

2 The container defined in claim 1, in which the exciting means areporous gas-discharge floor means.

